Parts of this story, especially the first few chapters of the main route, are based on works by Arnsden on deviantART. This chapter takes place shortly after Chapter 6 of the Golden Deer route, thouch character motivation spoilers from later in the route are revealed.
Claude sighed.
He could tell that something was brewing, but he couldn't tell exactly what. A couple months ago, the holy tomb had been attacked by members of the church itself, and the end result was that Rhea had gifted a priceless weapon to his professor.
This weapon was the stuff of legend, and one of the things Claude had determined he needed to know before enacting his grand plan was that he needed to know what the weapon could do. Unfortunately for him, it only responded to the professor's directives - which meant that he had to make absolutely sure that the professor was on his side.
He wasn't exactly spying, but he was trying to keep tabs on the professor's activities. And one thing in particular made him slightly concerned.
The professor was trying to recruit students from other classes into his own. This was perfectly fine - it actually meshed nicely with Claude's own plan. The issue was that he seemed to be focused on recruiting one particular student, almost as if obsessed with getting her away from her current class. And Claude feared it would become a distraction.
He didn't bear Bernadetta any ill will - he knew next to nothing about her, largely because of her tendancy to shut herself in her room at all times. He had seen her in the greenhouse a few times, but whenever he tried to strike up a conversation, she'd run back to her room. The way she reacted seemed to imply some deep-seated trauma, and if his theory was true, he understood the professor's reaction.
No, what he needed was a way to make sure the professor could keep her safe, and aid Claude in his grand plan, at the same time. But no ideas came to him.
That is, no ideas came to him until in a required magic class, he learned of a particular spell. Something about the spell nagged at him, and after a few days, he realized that if it collided with magic from his homeland, it had a result that would be perfect for his current needs.
He double-checked his hypothesis with Annette, a mage originally from the Blue Lion house that the professor had recently recruited. She was gifted enough in magic to know what he needed to find out, but scatterbrained enough that she wouldn't come to any conclusions from his questions.
He had the how, now he needed the when. People would suspect he had malicious intent if they knew that he did it intentionally, so he had to make sure it looked like an accident that the two spells collided near Bernadetta.
And recent events gave him the perfect setup. The normal professor for the Black Eagles, Bernadetta's current class, had recently gotten herself injured. The school had responded to this by deciding that each of the three houses would have two days off that week, and the professors of the other two houses would spend their classes' off days to teach the Black Eagles. This meant that he knew two times this week that Bernadetta and his own professor would be in the same room - and the Black Eagles had a few mages as well.
He managed to slip information about his homeland's magic into Lindhart's things, knowing that the sleepy man would study it. And then he planted a worm in Ferdinand's head, that it was somehow Edelgard's fault that their professor had gotten hurt. All he had to do was wait.
Of course, he also realized how easily his scheme could go horribly wrong even if it did succeed. To this end, he suggested to Lysithea that since the Black Eagles had a large number of mages, it might be a good idea to join them on the days that their own class had the day off. If something went wrong, she should be able to Rescue the poor recluse before things got out of hand. That is, if she was paying attention at the time.
* * *
Almost over... Class is almost over...
Bernie wanted the lesson to just hurry up and end. The last session before lunch, she was keen to get back to her bedroom. All she needed was for the substitute professor to allow everyone to leave. She was sure to be the first one out, and back in her room as soon as possible.
The substitute wasn't the issue. He was actually one of a few people, alongside Alois, she felt comfortable around. But even with him in charge, there were still her classmates to deal with. Some of them weren't too bad in moderation, but all of them at once was too much.
Mere minutes were left. Bernie focused on that above all else, tuning out the argument brewing at the other end of the room and staring at the pages of her book, one of few students actually listening to what they were supposed to be doing. The dispute got louder and louder, and more of her classmates were getting involved. The Professor took notice and told them off, but to no avail. Even the class leader scolding them wasn't enough to stop the escalating conflict.
Huh? Why is everyone getting so angry? Bernie worried with a shiver. Wait... I could totally sneak out! No-one will notice!
She didn't know who started it, nor did she care. By now, just about everyone had gotten involved, even the normally sleeping Linhardt. Sliding her chair out ever so slowly, she hoped no-one would hear it scrape across the floor. She started to move for the door...
The argument got worse. The first punch was thrown, and a brawl broke out between some of the tougher students. Others took to casting spells instead. Even for the Black Eagles, a melee this intense was unprecedented, the students forgetting themselves to fight for a cause Bernie did not care to know. At the apex of the brawl, magic beyond the abilities of the casters was thrown into the fray. Two such spells spiralled away, towards the door. And towards the fleeing Bernie.
She glanced over her shoulder to see two colliding lights. She screamed as she felt the explosion of magic, mere centimeters from her face. The flaring light blinded her, as the fight finally ended with a gasp. All fell dead silent, realizing that the brawl had gone too far.
* * *
A few seconds later, Bernie's vision returned. But what she saw confused the young woman. The spell had somehow transported her somewhere else, to a gigantic room with a massive doorway. Or that was what she thought, at first. Only when she saw its similarities to the classroom door did she realize they were one and the same.
"W-whaaat?!" Bernie screamed. "What the...?! How did the door get so big!"
Panicking, she scanned her surroundings. What she saw behind her was truly terrifying. A forest of pillars, impossibly tall, leading up to her giant classmates. Standing many, many times taller than her, her knees buckled. To make things worse, every single one was staring right at her.
Bernie went pale. Faced with such a sight, there was only one thing she could do.
RUN! The door that had once promised her salvation was now too far away. She ran for the shade, the bookcase on the adjacent wall.
* * *
"Huh? Where did Bernadetta go?" Caspar wondered.
"Oh no. What did we do?!" Dorothea breathed.
"She just vanished..." Ferdinand commented.
"No. Look. Right there. Could that be...?" Hubert said.
"Bernadetta? But it can't be!" Edelgard gasped.
"She's tiny!" observed Linhardt. "I don't believe it!"
"She is running away!" Petra pointed out.
"Everyone stay calm." Byleth commanded. "Bern...adetta, wait!" The professor hesitated mid-name. She had confided some things to him, and ever since then he had felt uncomfortable using her full name. But he knew that she wasn't ready to reveal the same things to everyone here.
At once, the class thundered after their puny peer. That only made her flee faster, scurrying away. They were faster than her, but Bernie was close enough to the bookcase to scoot behind it.
"No!" Caspar shouted. "Damn it! She got away!"
"Quickly, reach behind it!" Ferdinand suggested. "We might still be able to catch her!"
"Lower your voices, everyone!" Edelgard demanded. "She's scared enough without all of us shouting!"
"We must capture her, and quickly." Hubert commented. Caspar crouched down and reached in behind the bookcase.
* * *
"Eeeek!" Bernie screamed as a huge hand blindly swiped at her. "S-stay away!"
Stumbling away as the flingers flailed for her, she ran for the other end of the bookcase, away from the door. As she ran...
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